1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet-processing system capable of simultaneously performing a plurality of jobs such as binding or stacking of sheets on which images are formed, by arbitrarily combining a plurality of sheet-processing devices having individual sheet-processing functions such as forming an image onto a sheet, inserting a cover or tab, or stapling aligned sheets in a bundle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A sheet-processing system of a type having an image formation device such as a copier including a sequentially connected stacker, inserter, and finisher has been provided. The image formation device forms images onto sheets and outputs them, the stacker temporarily holds sheets, the inserter inserts special-purpose paper such as a front cover or tab, into the top or middle of sheets, and the finisher aligns and binds a plurality of sheets. With this sheet-processing system, after images are formed onto the sheets, various processes such as insertion of special-purpose paper, ejecting, folding, stapling, binding, or punching can be performed on the sheets.
FIG. 37 illustrates a sheet-processing system of a known type. The sheet-processing system includes an image formation device 1, a stacker 50, an inserter 60, and a finisher 70, which are arranged next to each other in this order. The stacker 50 temporarily holds sheets on which images are formed at the image formation device 10. The inserter 60 inserts special-purpose paper for a front cover or tab, e.g., color copy paper, into the top or middle of the sheets output from the image formation device 1. The finisher 70 aligns and binds the sheets output from the image formation device 1 or the inserter 60 and staples the sheets together. The sheet-processing system also includes a common path 90 indicated by the hatching in the drawing. This path 90 lies across the stacker 50, the inserter 60, and the finisher 70. Some of the aforementioned techniques may be found, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-89473.
In the sheet-processing system, those devices are arbitrarily combined to perform a job, which is a unit for sheet processing. For instance, the finisher 70 aligns and staples sheets together with images formed in the image formation device 1, along with special-purpose paper such as a front cover or tab that is inserted by the inserter 60, thereby binding all the sheets together. These different tasks are executed as one job.
Furthermore, with a known image formation device, when a plurality of copy jobs is performed in series, one copy job is displayed on the entire display frame of an operation display (display) at a time so that the screen has to be switched to monitor each copy job (some of these techniques may be found, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-212406).
Moreover, with the known sheet-processing system, while one job is processed, no other jobs can be executed simultaneously.
More specifically, while a job for stacking sheets using the image formation device 1 and the stacker 50 is processed, other jobs such as binding with the inserter 60 and the finisher 70 cannot be performed, even though the inserter 60 and the finisher 70 are not in use in the stacking job. Accordingly, each device cannot be fully utilized at the same time. Thus, the general efficiency of the sheet-processing system is deteriorated, resulting in decreased productivity.
Assuming that a number of jobs are simultaneously performed in the sheet-processing system and a display screen using the entire display frame is switched between jobs as in the sheet-processing system described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-212406, a user cannot monitor all the jobs, which are simultaneously performed, in one display screen. Specifically, since a number of users may share one sheet-processing system, an improvement in the visibility of the operation display is necessary, so that the users do not misunderstand the status of the jobs processed in parallel.